BOISE, Idaho — On Wednesday afternoon, former Idaho congressman and current Central Health District Board member Raul Labrador announced his candidacy for Idaho Attorney General.
Dennis Boyles, Arthur Macomber and Labrador have all filed paperwork indicating they intend to run against current Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden in the 2022 Republican primary. Wasden has also filed paperwork for that election.
In a press release Wednesday, Labrador said he is running because of President Joe Biden's executive orders.
“Right now the great battles for the soul of our nation are taking place in our courthouses," Labrador said. "We need an Attorney General who has the knowledge, experience and strength to help lead these efforts."
Labrador was U.S. Representative for Idaho's 1st Congressional District from 2011 to 2019. He ran for governor in the 2018 Republican primary, and served as chairman of the Idaho Republican Party from June 2019 to June 2020.
In his announcement, Labrador derided the "gamesmanship of activist judges" while touting how he would work with conservative lawmakers in the Idaho Legislature to craft legislation that can hold up to "judicial tests."
Labrador did not elaborate how he would be a different attorney general than Wasden, or what he would have done differently from Wasden and Idaho Gov. Brad Little in response to President Biden's vaccine mandates, one of which was suspended on Wednesday. Little has joined three separate lawsuits against the mandates.
Labrador added that he will "maintain law and order in our communities, protect Idahoans’ religious freedom, [and] ensure election integrity."
In the 2020 presidential election, no evidence of election tampering was found in the Gem State and former President Donald Trump's attorney general, William Barr, said no fraud was found that would have changed the election results.
Following the election, Idaho Deputy Secretary of State Chad Houck said out of the roughly 880,000 ballots cast in 2020, only about a dozen potential cases of fraud were reported, or about 0.001705% of all ballots cast in Idaho.
Labrador did not mention how he plans on ensuring election integrity in Idaho and addressing the 0.001705% of ballots cast possibly being fraudulent.
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